Suspicious Package At California Democratic Party Offices Is Not A Threat

Police and federal agents at the California Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento, October 31, 2018. (CBS)

SACRAMENTO (CBS SF) — The headquarters of the California Democratic Party in Sacramento was evacuated Wednesday following the discovery of a suspicious package, which turned out not to be a threat.

In a tweet, the California Democratic Party said they received the package in the mail and reported it to police “out of an abundance of caution.”

Earlier today CDP headquarters received a suspicious package in the mail, which we reported to law enforcement out of an abundance of caution. We have evactued our headquarters building as a saftey precaution, and law enforcement is presently addressing the situation.

“The package was a manila envelope hand-addressed to Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez,” said CDP Chair Eric Bauman in a statement. “Operating out of an abundance of caution, our headquarters staff immediately isolated the package and called the Sacramento Police Department, who dispatched the Bomb Squad to evaluate and remove the package.”

Investigators determined the piece of mail was not dangerous, said Sacramento Police Officer Marques Vasquez. Still, Vazquez said the right decision was made to call authorities. “We actually encourage people, if they come across anything suspicious, to please call the police department,” said Vasquez.

The incident comes days after a number of pipe bombs were sent to prominent Democrats and top critics of President Donald Trump, including former President Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and billionaire activist Tom Steyer.